


Hey Diddle Diddle

by Kuroeia (Empatheia)



Category: Fruits Basket
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-11-17
Updated: 2006-11-17
Packaged: 2017-11-08 17:09:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/445527
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Empatheia/pseuds/Kuroeia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She's one of a kind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hey Diddle Diddle

On any other person, Yuki thought, Tohru's personality would drive him to madness in five minutes flat. Tohru's personality only worked for Tohru, and he couldn't figure out why that was.

At the moment, she was elbow deep in slimy garden dirt, doubtless coated in invertebrates and slithering things with many legs. She was singing softly to herself, and had a ridiculous smile pasted on her face.

_No one but Tohru would smile when she's so dirty._

Yuki ran his fingers along the rough edges of the tree he half-hid behind and watched.

"La la la...and the cat said to the spoon, run away with me, we will be welcomed by the moon...la, la, _la_."

Why was it that her impossible cheerfulness that seemed completely independent of her surroundings didn't grate on him? Any other hyper-active girl-child wearing that near-manic grin would have had him running for the hills. Why not her?

_Because her cheerfulness is real, that's why. She doesn't fake happiness so people will love her. Her smile is genuine, her innocence true despite everything that's happened to her. Any other girl like her would just be a cheap knock-off. Tohru can pull off being annoying because she's also real and truthful in every aspect._

"La-di-dai-dah-dum, the moon wept silver tears, the spoon forgot its fears, the dish caught magic in its arms. Ai-lai-lum, lai-lee-dum, eh-lo-yee-fai-lum.

Yuki did not know the song. The realization that she was making up the lilting strains as she went along hit him in the chest for no other reason that it was such a very _Tohru_ thing to do. His pale fingers fluttered to his chest and he closed his eyes.

"La-di-dai-dah-hai-lai-lum, the cat and mouse they sat and sighed, and did not fight for one starlit night, oh-lai-dai-dum-dee-lum..."

He found himself caught unexpectedly between a wry smile and burning eyes. Even when she made up silly, wonderful songs that broke his heart, she was always thinking of ending the feud he and Kyou had carefully cared for and tended for the past decade and a half. Perhaps one day she would mean more to them than mutually exclusive victory.

Not today, but her song pushed Yuki a long way in the right direction.

**X**

**Author's Note:**

> Requested by: golden_meliades


End file.
